Operation Barbarossa Maps

[Just Jack]

All,

They ain’t pretty, and they certainly ain’t perfect, but here’s what I came up with.  I’m preparing to run map campaigns for my “Kampgruppe Klink” for Operation Barbarossa, and what I’ve decided is separate maps for Minsk, Smolensk, Kiev, and Vyazma.  Take a look, if ya like.

Minsk, north is up.

Smolensk, north is up.

Kiev, north is left.

And Vyazma, taking us right up to Zhukov’s winter counteroffensive.

Let me know what you think.

V/R,
Jack

[kyoteblue]

They look serviceable. So on to Moscow!!!

[Ruarigh]

Those look eminently practical. I look forward to reading how Kampfgruppe Klink does in this campaign.

Never argue with an idiot. They'll only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

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https://emidsvikings.ac.uk/

[Andrew Rolph]

No reason to believe these won’t serve as well as your previous ones. A very practical solution to the space/force ratio issue – ignore it!

The scales of these maps vary within and between them. The first couple are in the region of 25 miles per grid square. The third is a little larger and the fourth about half that. These are clearly larger areas than those over which a brigade sized unit would be spread. Yet, naming the places, putting the rivers in and maintaining the topology should give the right feel to the campaign. It’s a really good, practical compromise solution to the difficulty of KG Klink disappearing into a mass of divisions. I would have been wrestling inconclusively with the time/space scale for months!

Two thoughts occur to me –

The easternmost three columns of Smolensk represent roughly the same ground as the westernmost six columns of Vyazma. Perhaps matching the terrain up a little more might help the sense of continuity of the campaigns?

Operation Typhoon moved the frontline quite a way eastward beyond Vyazma before the Soviet counteroffensive started. Perhaps it’s worthwhile matching the scale of the Vyazma map more to the others and extending it to the east, to a line north/south approximating Volokolamsk/Kaluga, whilst maintaining pretty much the same number of columns? If so the westernmost three columns could directly match the three corresponding ones on Smolensk and the Vyazma map would serve double duty as both Typhoon and Winter Counteroffensive terrain.

Cheers

Andrew

 

[Whirlwind]

I am sure they will serve just fine.

A quick related question: how much Soviet stuff do you have?

 

[Thuseld]

Whirlwind wrote:

I am sure they will serve just fine. A quick related question: how much Soviet stuff do you have?

He has another thread with pictures of how he is basing his vehicles now to work in summer and winter. You see lots of lovely Russian stuff.

 

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Whirlwind]

Found it, many thanks.

[Just Jack]

Thanks everyone, I like them and I think they’ll work.

Andrew – You raise several good points man; I’m certainly no cartographer, and your product is much more accurate and detailed.  I just kinda eye-balled it and rolled with what I could find, happy that most (and I mean most!) of the locations are roughly in the right spot.  Yes, this thing is definitely out of scale, no two ways about that (the Greek map was, too), and is showing areas where whole Corps, if not Armies, fought, not just a measly little brigade-sized element, but I wanted to have a feeling of movement and the name recognition of some of the larger locations.  To me, it would have been much more accurate, yet kind of strange, to play a campaign that was part of the Minsk encirclement, yet Minsk wasn’t even on the campaign map as KG Klink’s piece of the overall puzzle never brought them anywhere near Minsk.  So I fudged to get something quick and playable.

Along those lines, you’re right about continuity with Smolensk, but each map campaign is essentially a stand-alone module, with KG Klink getting a breather (and probably some reinforcements, or at least a reorganization) in between.  To that end, I believe Vyazma will be the furthest east KG Klink gets.

The last piece of that is, I guess I need to stop calling it KG Klink, eh?  Their designation is now “PanzerGrenadier Brigade Klink” (sort of in the Grossdeutchland model), so I’m thinking to call them PzGren Bde Klink, and call each of the sub-groups “Kampgfgruppe (name of the commander).”

Whirlwind John – I’m with ya, you can never have enough Soviet stuff, but here’s what I’ve got and it will have to do:

Germans on the left, Reds on the right.  Here’s the link if you want to see closeups:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-10mm-basing-solution-ready-for.html

I’m off next Friday, so I’m hoping May 29th is D-day for Klink’s Operation Barbarossa!

V/R,
Jack

[jeffers]

Very smart! Best thing about solo campaigns is that you can shuffle things to fit and fiddle about with rules to your heart’s content and nobody will complain. Looking forward to the reports.. 👍

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[Just Jack]

Thanks, Jeffers, coming soon!

V/R,
Jack

[vtsaogames]

This should be a treat, looking forward to it.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[Just Jack]

I’m certainly hoping so, coming soon!

V/R,
Jack

[kyoteblue]

Um, you just got Tango’ed.

[Just Jack]

Hmmm…   And how would you know that? 😉

V/R,
Jack

[kyoteblue]

It’s what I heard at City Hall.

[Just Jack]

All that hate’s gonna burn you up 😉

V/R,
Jack

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